The Missoulian from Missoula, Montana • 13

NEWSROOM 523-5240 Missoulian Section Powerball: ($44.7 million) 9 Montana Cash: ($40,000) Wild Card: ($250,000) A (Estimated jackpot) Cash 4 Life 24-55-60-81 (match first set of numbers to win $1,000 a week for life) Thursday, March 18, 1999 Wildlife film judges face tough decisions Montana By DARYL GAD BOW of the Missoulian Public screenings of International Wildlife Film Festival films will take place April 17 and 18 at the Missoula Children's Theatre, and April 20 through April 24 at the Wilma Theater. festival, which will be held in Missoula April 17-24. "It's a really intense time, there's no question about it," said judge Tim Barksdale, a professional filmmaker from Missouri, on Wednesday morning, the last day of judging. "We're all ready to go jogging, or hiking, or just be outside in the sun. It's been hard to be cooped up so long.

It's been a deprivation. But the films have been fabulous." Barksdale had just finished watching a film called "RedFish BlueFish" by Scott Levy of Ketchum, Idaho. And he could barely contain his excitement about it. "That last film was awesome," he said when asked about festival highlights. "We just had a highlight.

This is the last day of judging, so everything is compressed into a short time. We are intensely analyzing the films for so many areas of content and structure." The judges had just been discussing a special jury award for innovation for "RedFish BlueFish," said Barksdale. "It's entered in the amateur category," he said. "We saw three other films before this one in that category. And we were suddenly struck with the quality of the high-speed photography, and the professionalism of the music.

We start going, 'What's going on It's beautifully edited, creative and well-written. "We as professional filmmakers know that the amount of film footage shot was very See FILM, Page B2 And the judges are In addition to Tim Barksdale, a professional filmmaker from Missouri, these are the other members of the International Wildlife Film Festival's finalist judging panel: Pat Hill of West Sussex, England, lectures on animal behavior at a variety of schools and universities worldwide. She has filmed and studied wildlife all over the world. Elda Brizuela is a Costa Rican Emmy Award-winning film producer. One of her most recent projects is working as a co-producer with National Geographic on migration patterns of See JUDGES, Page B2 In a way, being a judge for the International Wildlife Film Festival is a form of torture.

The six judges selected for this year's festival journeyed to Missoula from their homes in Canada, England, Costa Rica and the United States to spend six days locked in a dark room, watching and debating the virtues and faults of 70 films. Those were the finalists from a record 244 entries submitted to the festival this year. The judges' task is to rate the films within their various categories for showing during the public screening portion of the 22nd annual 'Erin go first' Toddler Search for driver in hit-and-run continues By JANE RIDER of the Missoulian sr A- a 4 HAMILTON -The future looked brighter for 2-year-old Michael Reutov on Wednesday. Just 24 hours earlier, an ambulance rushed the toddler to Marcus Daly Memorial Hospital with head injuries after a vehicle struck him on U.S. 93 near his home, 11 miles south of Hamilton.

Montana Highway Patrol officers said Tuesday the boy had lost a lot of blood from a large Anyone Who cut on his forehead may have I and that he i i suffered swelling of information his head. They said about the they weren't sure of accident IS the extent of his injuries, but they asked to call i00ked serious. the Montana Dawn broke Patrol at nursing supervisor 543-7766. I said the boy's condition had improved from critical to satisfactory. "He is doing OK," said Gavreel Reutov, Michael's father, during a telephone interview from the boy's hospital bedside Wednesday afternoon.

The child suffered a 3- to 4-inch gash across his forehead. "He still has lots of bandages and an I.V. attached to him," Gavreel Reutov said. "It was pretty scary and See TODDLER, Page B2 "1 I JENNIFER SENSMluoullan Erin Gallagher takes candy distribution seriously at the St. Patrick's Day parade down Higgins Avenue Wednesday.

The parade's theme this year was "Toward a Lasting Peace." New tower quintuples Bitterroot radio signal Panel: Kevorkian exposes issues, but provides the wrong answers By JANE RIDER of the Missoulian By GINNY MERRIAM of the Missoulian As well, about half said the current medical system does an "only fair" or "poor" job of helping dying patients stay as comfortable and pain-free as possible (46 percent), helping them maintain their dignity (54 percent) and including patients and their families in decisions about their care (48 percent). Very few felt the system does an "excellent" job in any of these areas. and former owner of the two stations. In 1998 Benedict sold the pair to Marathon Media of Chicago, which owns 83 stations across the country. He now works for the limited partnership as its national director of new business development and nontraditional revenue.

He recalls buying the two stations in 1986 "on a shoestring budget," but he always felt they had a lot of potential, he said. Benedict agreed that usually it's the bigger-city stations that expand their reach into small towns, not vice versa. "It is unusual, but I've convinced the main office in Chicago that this is something we need to do to remain competitive for the next 20 to 30 years," Benedict said. He wanted to make a similar move when he owned the stations, he said, but he never had the kind of capital available to make it happen. "With the new company, we were able to put the $300,000 needed into the upgrade," he said.

The tower will be erected on a mountainside, northeast of Stevensville. The transmitter will boost the signal from 16,000 watts to 85,000 watts. Benedict expects the station will eventually add some sales and office staff. Only the FM station 95.9 on the radio dial is undergoing the upgrade. Benedict expects the current programming Top 40 rock 'n' roll without any rap or urban hip hop will remain the same.

The station will maintain its existing tower and transmitter, just northwest of Hamilton on Downing Mountain, as a backup, he said. HAMILTON Hamilton's only radio station will build a new tower and boost the strength of its FM signal fivefold by July, making it the most powerful signal this side ofKalispell. The move will allow KBMG Magic 96 to quadruple its potential audience from 35,000 listeners to 145,000, taking it into the Missoula market and reaching Kalispell to the north, Salmon to the south, Butte to the east and Lookout Pass to the west. Station officials say KBMG-FM is now poised to become a dominant force in western Montana. "I always had a dream we could play with the big boys," said Steve Benedict, general manager of KBMG-FM and KLYQ-AM Employees ask truck stops be excluded from smoking ban By GINNY MERRIAM of the Missoulian Americans fear unbearable pain and financial ruin at the end of life.

But most of them don't favor legalizing physician-assisted suicide as a solution, according to a new survey done as Jack Kevorkian prepares to go on trial for homicide March 22. The survey results were released Tuesday in a national telephone press conference held in Detroit by the Last Acts coalition, a group of 320 health, religious, bioethics and consumer organizations led by former first lady Rosalynn Carter. Its speakers included Missoula physician Ira Byock, who's a leader of the Missoula Demonstration Project and a past president of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. "Make no mistake about it," Byock said. "How we care for the most ill, infirm and most elderly is the central moral challenge facing our nation today." Kevorkian's high-profile assistance at suicides of terminally ill people has brought out important issues, said New York physician Timothy Quill.

However, Quill said, "He has also led to very wrong answers." The coalition unveiled a five-point blueprint for improving end-of-life care, called palliative care, crafted in part in response to the recent survey. The poll, conducted by Lake Snell Perry Associates through interviews of 1,007 Americans between March 5 and 7, found most support for improving care of the dying (65 percent of those polled) as the answer to dealing with the problem of end-of-life pain and suffering. Only 23 percent supported making physician-assisted suicide legal. Nearly eight in 10 (79 percent) feel the medical system does an only fair to poor job of making sure dying patients' families' savings are not wiped out by health care costs. People who work in end-of-life care must work to improve it, said Byock, who has worked in the field for 20 years.

"Dying is always hard," he said, "but it need not be horrible." The five-point blueprint for quality palliative care says that good care: Respects the goals and choices of the dying person, Looks after the dying patient's medical, emotional, social and spiritual needs, including pain relief, Supports the needs of family members and loved ones, including those who are grieving after the patient dies, Helps gain access to health care providers and appropriate care settings, and Builds ways to provide excellent care at the end of life, through health policy, health insurance and other means. "Our intention," said Byock, "is to dramatically increase public expectation about end of life care." The Public Health and Safety Committee has yet to set a public hearing date for tfie ordinance and will devote its March 24 meeting to discussion. Minneapolis, Indiana, Ohio, Phoenix, Spokane, Iowa, Texas, Oklahoma, California, Winnipeg, Canada, and elsewhere. "Tobacco is a legal substance," said Styron. "I can buy it at every market." The employees' comments followed other recent 4B's news.

Company president Jeff Hainline banned smoking at the two in-town Missoula 4B's March 1 and said Tuesday that the move had cost the two restaurants $1,000 a day in decreased business. On behalf of 4B's and the Montana Restaurant Association, he opposes a secondhand smoke ordinance because of possible economic impacts. Others at the committee meeting criticized Hainline for saying the drop could affect 4B's charitable contributions to the community. "This was wrong, the way you did it," said Missoula restaurant owner Silas Torrcy. "And I think you should reimburse your employees for lost tips.

I think your dad would be very ashamed of you." Hainline said an effect on the bottom line will affect every aspect of the business, including its ability to give to charity. "I'm not a proponent for smoking," he said. "I'm a proponent of trying to protect my business and the things we've done in this community for 50 years. "Hey, don't demonize me." See SMOKING, Page B2 At the 4B's Crossroads truck stop, 88 percent of the customers choose to sit in the smoking section. If Missoula bans smoking in public places, the restaurant will lose its mobile clientele, and the workers will lose income, two of its employees told a City Council committee Wednesday.

"Truck stops do not compete on a local level but rather on a statewide and regional level," waitress Louisa Appclt told the committee. "Since most of the patrons of truck stop facilities are stubborn, smoking truck drivers who are more than willing to drive an extra 60 or more miles to a different town which recognizes their right to make their own choices, Missoula-area truck stops will become economically unviable." Appclt and assistant manager Laura Styron brought a petition asking for exemption of truck stops from the ordinance. It was signed by 216 people, including employees and customers from.